Board games, sometimes referred to broadly as “parlor games”, are well known and have historically enjoyed popularity among game enthusiasts and wide commercial success. Strategy board games such as the well known games of chess and checkers have traditionally been played on a single 8×8 square planar game board totaling 64 equally sized square spaces. In such games, opponents arrange a number of game pieces in predetermined locations on the board and “attack” each other in an effort to capture and remove the opponent's pieces according to well-established rules of play. In chess, individual pieces are designated as having particular movement and capture capabilities. Both chess and checkers allow promotion of a lowest level or basic piece, to a highest level or most powerful piece, once the opposite side of the game board is reached through forward movement of the piece on the board according to established rules of play. In these well known games there are, however, no rules or provisions for allowing demotion of game pieces. Rather, in these games there is only capture and removal of pieces according to the rules. Furthermore, the single game board, singular direction of play, and single promotion of pieces, all create limits to overall strategies and depths of playing the games.
In response to such limitations, three-dimensional and multiple flat game board concepts have been utilized to expand playing areas and necessitate increased complexity in successful game playing strategies as may be desired by those who have developed a modicum of sophistication in playing the games. Often the multiple boards are the same size and generally offer multiple versions of the same basic two-dimensional game, such as provided in the so-called “three-dimensional chess” game made famous by the character “Mr. Spock” in the original Star Trek television series. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,201 to Harper et al. discloses a game field with multiple levels, which includes elements of tic-tac-toe. U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,471 to Brennan provides a second board for chess and expanded rules of play to have pieces traverse both game boards. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,056 to Ching infuses classic chess with an Egyptian theme and expands the otherwise flat chess game field to a four-tiered pyramid shape. Other varieties of three-dimensional game boards offer designated playing pieces that emphasize piece movements and generally mimic chess piece movement (e.g. of the Rook, Bishop, and Queen pieces) thereby adding vertical movement across several game boards (each typically being identical to the “standard” 64 square game board) to traditional movements on the single game board. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,685 to Sterling, a game is disclosed which has designated game pieces that are permitted to move, in play, vertically and diagonally across multiple game boards. U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,818 to Underwood teaches three square game boards and a selection of pieces that are moved like chess pieces across the boards.
In these patented games, the game pieces generally have a static set of functions for the additional cross-board movements, but do not relate piece movement across game boards to promotion of game pieces thereby.
Considering, now, rules of promotion of game pieces, in both chess and checkers a promotion feature is utilized in play as aforesaid. In typical embodiments of each of these games, the promotion of a piece occurs when it traverses the field of play in one direction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,746 to Hare, U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,152 to Johnson, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,114 to Wester, each reference promotion of pieces that are pawn-like and traverse a single game board in one direction to attain promotion. In the game of checkers, stacking of game pieces to designate promotion occurs under that game's rules by “kinging” the piece as is well known. This concept of stacking of pieces to designate promotion is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,152 to Shifman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,208 to Barry, U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,452 to Yurchey, and in U.S. Pat. Applic. Pub. No. 2001/0011798 of Anderson. In Shifman, so-called key markers are utilized for stacking on stationary posts positioned on a single game board. In Barry, opponents each have different game pieces, with one player having a set of rings and the other a set of peg-shaped pieces. The stacking action occurs upon capture of the opponent's piece. Yurchey describes two types of game pieces that may, in turn, be combined to achieve a more powerful third type of game piece with advanced movement and capture attributes. Anderson's game pieces have predefined movements and capture features, with predefined sets of movements for each piece. Stacking occurs when an opponent's piece is captured. The capturing piece adds the game piece and its attributes to its own movements. It is to be also noted that Yurchey utilizes the promotion and demotion of game pieces, by way of the aforedescribed concept of having two different types of pieces which may be combined in play to make the third, more powerful piece. Specifically, in Yurchey the two types of game pieces are positioned on a single-level game field, and they can be combined in play to attain the higher, third level of movement and capture attributes. Players may combine and un-combine the two types of pieces at will throughout the game. Promotions and demotions in Yurchey are not related, however, to pieces landing on predetermined promotion spaces on the board; and attaining promotion of a piece is not conditioned upon movement of the piece to another board.
Additionally, the prior, known games have relied upon generally cumbersome and rigid game board apparatuses. These constructions were typically not suited for compact storage and transportation, and they also had structural members such as support posts and the like which interfered with or obstructed play on portions of the boards adjacent to them.
Thus, despite past efforts, there has not been heretofore a hierarchical, multi-dimensional, strategy board game apparatus and playing method having an easily constructible and collapsible apparatus, and game pieces which, in play, attain promotion by ascending game board levels and may also be demoted by an opponent while effectively remaining in play.